By THE FANTASY 413
t’s Week 5 of the NFL season, so most teams are officially one-quarter of the way through their schedule. Today we’ll take a look at the offensive MVPs through the first four weeks, and we’ll add in some players we expect to regress over the second quarter and some we expect to improve.

QB: PEYTON MANNING: What an easy way to start off. There’s not a man, woman, or Yankee fan alive that doesn’t think Manning has been both the NFL MVP and the Fantasy MVP through the first four weeks. The question on everyone’s mind these days is whether he’ll be able to keep it up as the cold winter’s winds start to form in Denver. We think it’s prudent to be concerned about that, but we’re far more concerned about the health of his receivers. Eric Decker’s banged up a little, and we all know how many hits Wes Welker has taken over the years. Keep an eye on that, but there’s no reason to get crazy and trade the man.

Regression candidates: Michael Vick, Alex Smith

Improvement candidates: Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson

RB: ADRIAN PETERSON: It should be very clear by now that the only thing that can stop Peterson is his own health. Defenses are not concerned with Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel, or whoever is at QB for the Vikings, yet they still can’t stop Peterson. As with Manning, the only thing to watch is injuries. But since you can’t plan for that, you just ride it out and hope he isn’t banged up during your playoffs.

Regression candidates: Demarco Murray, Joique Bell.

Improvement candidates: Alfred Morris, Trent Richardson.

WR: VICTOR CRUZ: Here comes the tricky one. There are two, maybe three, other receivers similarly deserving of this, but Cruz gets the nod over Julio Jones and Demaryius Thomas, even though he has fewer receptions than both. That said, trade the man now if you can. The Giants have to eventually establish the run if they want to, you know, win a game this year, and Cruz is surrounded by other receiving options. If it were Peyton Manning throwing to him, we’d expect no regression, but it’s the other one. You know, Eli – the Manning who wins you no fantasy championships, but is a better bet to bring your town a Super Bowl.

Regression candidates: Cruz, Julian Edelman, Nate Washington

Improvement candidates: A.J. Green, Larry Fitzgerald

TE: JIMMY GRAHAM:Does anyone need us to explain this one? Graham would be the Wide Receiver MVP if we combined the two positions. He’s the first tight end to win the Offensive MVP of the month in the history of the award. Jordan Cameron deserves a mention here, if only because he’d probably be the runner up if we combined WR and TE.

Regression candidates: Cameron, Graham (another four games like the first four would be very unlikely), Julius Thomas.

Improvement candidates: Rob Gronkowski (remember him?), Coby Fleener.

* The Fantasy 413 column appears in The Republican and on MassLive each Saturday. The Republican’s fantasy guys can be reached at thefantasy413@gmail.com, Twitter @TheFantasy413 or through the Comments section below.